


Bruce Banner Collection

by ireadtoomuchfantasy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: #TeslaLives, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Animalistic, Blowjobs, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner is a troll, Bruce's dog from TIH, Cooking, Cuddles, Fluff, Fugitive Bruce, Homecoming, Hulk pov, Human father-Synthezoid Son bonding, Ironically, Love Conquers All, M/M, Making Up, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Piercings, Pining, Reunions, Sharing Body Heat, THE PLUMS, Tattoos, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony seriously has great arms, Vision needs a label maker, an obscure reference to a usually overreferenced play, bittersweet goodbyes, firefly catching, handjobs, implied lab sex, it really is a small world after all, recovering alcoholic Tony Stark, savage hulk, someone give Bruce a kid already, the arc reactor is not a nightlight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-12 05:31:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 14,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7087237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ireadtoomuchfantasy/pseuds/ireadtoomuchfantasy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A compilation of short fics that either I made on my own and I didnt want to publish separately or writing prompts (All including Bruce and many if not all including Science Boyfriends) that I was given on tumblr and completed.<br/>Some chapters contain NSFW material so check the notes at the beginning of each chapter for warnings and skip as needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Feasible

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt from seekingsquake was: “Bruce and Tony talking about having children (or not having them) :)”

Bruce never says it out loud but Tony can see the longing on his face sometimes when they pass a couple on the street with their two or three kids chasing each other behind them.

Some days it’s harder to read, simply a smile as he moves aside to avoid colliding with a runaway toddler before his mother quickly scoops him up and apologizes. Other days it’s an ache that’s impossible to miss, so raw that Tony feels a stinging sensation under the arc reactor as he watches Bruce watch a father push his daughter on a swing.

Tony knows Bruce is happy with him, or at least is happier than he used to be. He smiles more often and with a little less restraint, his eyes have lost some of the flatness in them, and even his body language is more loose and relaxed, with less head ducking and feet shuffling. But even so, Bruce still carries the faintest hint of regret in his shoulders, and Tony somehow doubts he’ll ever get rid of it, much like how Tony himself can’t get the taste of accountability and coconut off his tongue.

“If you could have kids, would you?” he asks bluntly one day, making Bruce look up in surprise. Just about anyone else would be kicking themselves right about now, but Tony keeps looking at Bruce unblinkingly. He’s never been one for ignoring the elephant (or Hulk as the case might be) in the room before, and he isn’t about to start now. Better to examine those kinds of things out in the open rather than let them scuttle away to fester in a dark corner.

For a moment Bruce doesn’t respond, instead taking his time straightening up and adjusting his glasses. His mouth twists in a sour smile for a moment but then it’s gone, leaving a mild expression that Tony finds infuriatingly difficult to read.

“I’ve thought about it,” he says. “When I dated Betty I’d hoped that we… that we could have that. You know, the whole white picket fence and two and half kids thing. Maybe even a dog.”

“You thought,” Tony repeats. He doesn’t have a prepared quip oddly enough. “But you don’t now?”

Bruce shrugs. “Not exactly feasible any more, is it? Even if the Other Guy wasn’t somehow an issue, and he is, any child living with me would be a living target for anyone trying to get at me. And that’s assuming I would have a kid to raise in the first place.” His smile turns sour again. “Somehow I don’t see any adoption agencies even letting me near a child in the first place.”

Tony, perhaps because he knows Bruce so well, can sense the anger running deep under his words, so encrusted over with his own self-loathing that it’s difficult to otherwise detect.

“I wasn’t asking about feasibility,” Tony points out, walking toward his boyfriend before hopping up and sitting on the table where he’d been working. He picks up a pencil and taps it against his knee for a few moments before pointing it at Bruce. “You’re deflecting there, buddy. I’m asking if you would want kids if it was possible.”

There’s a longer pause as Bruce considers before his gaze drifts up to Tony. “Why does it matter? What happens if I say yes?”

“I…” It’s only then that Tony falters, both not having expected to answer that question and also because he’s not certain if he knows the answer anyway. “I just want you to be happy.”

Bruce seems to understand.

“I do want kids,” he admits, and from not quite stable sound of it, it’s the first time he’s ever said the phrase out loud. “But I don’t know if it’s because I want to prove that I can raise them better than my father did me, or because I’m starving for that kind of unconditional and nonjudgmental love, or if I just want to bring something good into this world to balance some sort of cosmic scale that I’ve upset.”

Leaning forward, he reaches out and cups Tony’s face. Even now, Bruce’s touch is still hesitant, still cautious, still always aware of the fragility of human life in his sometimes large green hands.

“I know you would let me have that if it was possible. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed it’s that you often give lots of things to the people you care about. It’s one of the only ways you know to show that you love them. But Tony, you don’t need to feel obligated to give me everything. Things might not be exactly how I always dreamed but I am happy with what I have with you.”

“I’m a billionaire who’s spent a fair amount of his fortune on an anti Hulk room, I’d hope you were happy with everything I’ve given you,” Tony says, but he’s touched all the same.

Bruce chuckles and leans in to kiss him.

Of course that conversation never solves the problem of giving Bruce what he wants, but, Tony figures as he kisses Bruce back, there’s plenty of time to figure it out later. For now there’s plenty to be content with.


	2. Up To Your Knees Out There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my Secret Santa present for trammelsb for the Science Bros Secret Santa exchange hosted by @sciencebrosweek. It was a little tricky to figure out what I wanted to write and I kept procrastinating but I like the final product and I hope you do too!
> 
> This particular prompt contains NSFW material

Finding Hulk after a fight was the easy part. Besides leaving behind sizable footprints, he also left a distinctive path of broken or bent trees that was easier to follow from the air. Not to mention that being eight and a half feet tall and green made him easy to spot out of the snow. The tricky part was what would come after.

Having heard Tony’s approach long before seeing him, Hulk watched him land from where he was sitting crossed legged just inside the mouth of a large cave.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were waiting for me. You even found a love cave for us,” Tony said and Hulk let out a small huff, the edges of his mouth twitching the semblance of a smile. “Which believe me, I’d love to join you in there, but trust me, it’ll be much warmer on the jet and then back home. But since you won’t fit in the jet, I think you’re about ready for some downtime, okay?”

Hulk’s reaction to being told it was “downtime” often differed depending on the situation and ranged from acceptance to sulkiness and if it was a bad day, resentfulness. Today, he frowned a little, looking distinctly reluctant and Tony mentally sighed, tired and not having the patience to stick to the script that went with the Downtime process.

“Come on Big Guy, it’s getting late. What do I have to do here?” A few flakes of snow started drifting down and Tony frowned, remembering about the snowstorm and doubled his efforts. “It’s freezing out here, wouldn’t you rather be warm somewhere?”

By somewhere he meant specifically inside Bruce’s head, but of course he wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“Not cold,”

“What?” Tony asked, having started when the green giant had spoken.

“Hulk not cold,” Hulk repeated slowly, as if Tony was a small child.

Huh. Now that Tony thought about it, JARVIS had previously registered that Hulk’s core body temperature was much higher than anyone else’s on the team. And that made perfect sense seeing as Hulk’s body was essentially a living gamma reactor, so of course he’d be perfectly warm. But the problem with this train of thought was that it had ignited Tony’s curiosity in a way that wouldn’t be satisfied by mere readings. Just how warm was Hulk?

“JARVIS, remove the suit,” he said and if JARVIS had any reservations, he didn’t voice them as he let the suit unfold from around Tony’s body. Tony stepped out and almost immediately regretted it because fuck it was freezing. The flurry was starting to become proper snow and there was a wind that seemed to go right through the underarmor and yep, bad idea bad idea.

But instead of going back into the suit, Tony determinedly walked toward Hulk and stepped in between his crossed legs, just the proximity to Hulk enough to warm him back up, like standing near a fireplace. Even sitting down, Hulk was still taller than him, he noticed.

Slowly leaned forward, Tony placed his palm on Hulk’s chest, spreading his fingers wide and marveling because the skin wasn’t just warm, it was hot, not enough to burn him or anything, but it was enough to immediately melt the snow hitting it. The only places where the snow wasn’t melting instantaneously were in his hair and on his eyelashes. Tony was fascinated. Granted, Hulk was fascinating enough on his own, but catching him in a rare calm and still moment like this was a sort of treat. It was even kind of beautiful in the way that the sight of a sleeping tiger was. It was the same sense of awe with the knowledge of the power and strength that rippled just under the surface

Tony wasn’t certain how long he’d been standing there but subconsciously he’d moved his hand from Hulk’s pec and onto his shoulder and was now trailing his fingers down the thick corded muscles in his arm. The skin was slightly rough but it still had some give to it and still mostly felt very human.

Hulk hadn’t moved the entire time, his unnaturally green eyes trained on Tony though a faint rumbling noise had started up in his chest. Not like a growl, but more like a purr that Tony could feel reverberating through his whole body. Then, Hulk cautiously moved his arm so that it was loosely curled around Tony, who then realized that Hulk was trying to hug him, or at least cuddle.

“Trying to warm me up, Big Guy?” he joked, glad that his blush could be brushed off as a reaction to the cold.

Hulk simply rumbled again in response, closing his eyes and as it was still cold and snowing and no one was around to see it anyway, Tony mentally shrugged and leaned against Hulk. Normally he would have suggested they move further into the cave but Hulk’s back was to the direction that the wind and snow were coming from so Tony was protected from them either way. As it was, Tony was surprisingly comfortable and warm in Hulk’s arms and didn’t particularly feel like moving.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. He only recognized that some time had passed when he started to feel the cold and upon opening his eyes (when had he closed them?) saw that it was because Hulk was slowly shrinking.

Sitting up and moving off Hulk’s lap so that he wouldn’t squash Bruce, Tony just watched the transformation as it took place, having never gotten to see it this up close before. The green leached out of Hulk’s skin, shifting it gradually back to its usual tan and pink shades as his muscles lost mass and definition and his face smoothed out into Bruce’s.

Taking initiative, Tony lifted Bruce up bridal style and moved him further back into the cave just as he started to stir.

“Did I-”

“Nope, quite the opposite actually,” Tony said. “I followed the big guy out here and we had a cuddle session. It was adorable and also Hulk is hot. Like in the temperature way, not the physical way though now that I think about it, he has even better pecs than Cap-”

“Please don’t make me think about you thinking about the Other Guy’s body,” Bruce said, and squinted at Tony. “Where’s your armor?”

“Just over there,” Tony gestured to where the suit stood waiting. “And are you jealous of me talking about Hulk’s bod? Because that’s really not a problem, I like yours just fine.”

“Yeah?” Bruce said, and for a moment Tony thought he was going to start flirting back but he shivered instead, wearing only his special stretchy pants. “Please tell me the jet’s waiting.”

“Uh… negative on that, I forgot to tell them I found you. JARVIS, send the others our coordinates,” Tony said and JARVIS replied from the suit but he wasn’t paying attention anymore.

“In the meantime, let’s get warm, shall we?” Tony rubbed his hands together and Bruce huddled against the wall of the cave while Tony started building a fire with some wood he’d found that he ignited with the aid of the suit’s repulsors, which immensely helped things once he got it going.

“Well that’s part one down,” he said as he sat down in front of it next to Bruce, who raised an eyebrow at him.

“What’s part two?”

“Well… I mean think about it. It’s snowing hard out there. The others will probably have to wait a bit to come get us, there’s a nice warm fire here and we’re all alone… and will probably need to share body heat to survive…”

Both of Bruce’s eyebrows were raised now. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

“Why? Is it working?”

“Can you seduce me if you’re already dating me?”

“Let’s find out,” Tony said as he leaned in and captured Bruce’s lips. He felt Bruce responding, winding his arms around Tony in a firm but tender embrace until Tony found himself suddenly being lowered to the floor on his back and looking up at Bruce before the older man reclaimed his lips, running the tip of his tongue over Tony’s bottom lip before pulling it between his teeth to lightly suck on it.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Fuck, Bruce,” Tony murmured when Bruce finally pulled back. Then he felt one of Bruce’s hands slipping under his shirt to pull it up and start tracing patterns onto the sensitive skin on his abdomen and side while the other gripped his hip. With his hands occupied, Bruce started mouthing at Tony’s neck, eliciting a moan from him as Tony slid his hands under the waistband of Bruce’s pants to grab his ass. Bruce made a sudden high pitched noise.

“Tony, your fingers are freezing!”

“Sorry,” Tony gave Bruce a not-very-apologetic grin. “Wanna help me warm them up? I can think of several places to stick them that would do that.”

Bruce tried to glare but his chest moved like he had barely swallowed down a laugh. “No. If your extremities are cold, we’re going to warm them up my way.”

And with that, Bruce popped the button of Tony’s pants, pulled down the zipper, yanked both his pants and underwear down and sucked his cock into his mouth all within the space of a few seconds.

“Holy shi- Bruce!” Tony gasped and then groaned as Bruce circled his tongue around the head and pulled off enough just to suck on it before sliding his mouth back down again and engulfing him.

Tony’s arms flailed for a moment before Bruce’s hands clamped over his wrists and directed them to his hair. Glad to have something to grab, Tony pulled the greying curls and felt Bruce moan appreciatively around him and if Tony wasn’t hard before, he definitely was now.

Bucking his hips up into Bruce’s mouth, Tony found himself babbling Bruce’s name and obscene things about his mouth and tongue and Bruce must have liked it because he sucked harder and Tony could feel the hot pleasure building deep inside him only for it to abate as Bruce pulled off again and Tony whined, pulling on his hair again.

“Bruce please, ohgodplease.”

“Are you warm yet, Tony?” Bruce was smirking, the bastard, and was close enough that Tony could feel his breath on his dick as he spoke.

“Yes! Fuck, dammit it Bruce please!” Tony pleaded and almost cried out in relief when he felt Bruce’s tongue lapping at his shaft, making its way up and then Bruce’s hand was between his legs and fondling his balls and Tony was so close at that point he could feel his muscles tensing in anticipation.

And finally, fucking finally Bruce took his cock back into his mouth and sucked hard as his hand twisted his balls and Tony lost it, coming hard and fast into Bruce’s throat. Without missing a beat, Bruce swallowed it all down and licked Tony’s cock clean as he pulled off a panting Tony.

“Damn, Bruce…” Tony breathed as he felt Bruce pulling him close. “I don’t think I’m ever going to feel cold again.”

Bruce chuckled. “You should probably zip up your pants then. That’ll help a bit with that.” He stood up and offered Tony a hand. “Now come on, you can return the favor when we get back.”

Grabbing Bruce’s hand, Tony pulled himself up and followed Bruce out to the sounds of the quinjet as it landed outside the cave.


	3. The Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt from ohthisismuchworse was “Bruce after AOU running into Bucky after CAWS and before CACW”

No one comes to look for him in the first six months after Bruce leaves. He doesn’t know if he’s pleased or let down.

It’s harder than he thought it would be to go back to a life on the run. Living in luxury during his time as an Avenger must have spoiled him. He misses the impossibly soft mattress on his bed, the computers that didn’t take more than a few seconds to load anything he needed, the clothes that actually fit him properly.

Another big thing he misses is being able to eat regularly. He’s already lost the weight that he had started to gain back over the past three years and then some. Once he gets a job as a janitor in a nearby school he makes just enough to live off of ramen and takeout but it gets old very quickly.

It’s eventually a craving for not only something freshly baked instead of drowning in preservatives, but also for a decently made cup of tea that draws Bruce into the cafe across the street from his apartment one day.

As he settles down at his table with a blueberry muffin and a mug of black tea, he accidentally catches the eye of another man sitting by himself about fifteen feet away from him. He looks to be in about the same state as Bruce, though more in need of a haircut. Even though Bruce quickly looks away, he thinks he sees the man stiffen and Bruce feels himself tense in response.

Has S.H.I.E.L.D. (or rather its remains) found him? Or something worse?

Bruce doesn’t run. He knows better. Instead he sits and slowly consumes his breakfast as if his heart isn’t beating a little faster than normal, not once glancing across the room again. Then when he’s done, he gets up and leaves to head back to his apartment.

It could have been nothing, he thinks as he walked. Just his paranoia acting up again. After all, nothing had really sugg-

Something slams him face first against the wall of the alley and there’s a terrifying moment where he thinks he’s going to change, the rush of adrenaline making him see green and he turns his head to gasp out. “Stop, please!”

The surprising part is that his attacker listens and as Bruce catches his breath and cranes his neck to the left to look at his attacker he sees long hair and a glint of metal between the glove and sleeve covering the hand resting at his side.

“Tell him to stop.” the man’s voice is slightly younger than what Bruce would have expected. Regardless, Bruce is very confused.

“What? Who?”

“Don’t. I saw you on the television a year- no, four… six months ago with him and the others. You’re with him. He sent you to find me. So tell St- tell the Captain to stop looking for me.”

“Wait… Steve?” Then it clicks. “You’re Barnes.” Talk about it being a small world.

“I’m not- I’m…” the man falters then his expression tightens. “Just tell him to back off.”

“I’m not on that team anymore,” Bruce says. “I left a few months ago. I haven’t been in contact with them. Trust me, if any of them were here, I wouldn’t be.”

The entire time Bruce is speaking the man’s- Barnes’ eyes are scrutinizing him before he hesitantly releases him.

“Thanks,” he says with a tiny nod as he straightens his shirt and looks back at Barnes.

“You’re the green one,” Barnes says, surprising Bruce by being the first to break the awkward silence.

“Well not right now, I’m not.”

“But you turn into him? Like your body actually changes on its own?” There’s a strange note in Barnes’ voice, and it takes Bruce a beat to realize it’s curiosity, with a tiny hint of awe.

“Yeah.”

“How much…” for the first time, Barnes seems hesitant. “How much does it hurt?”

Bruce sharply inhales and suddenly his hands feel too empty.

“A lot.”

“I’m… sorry.”

“If what I’ve heard about what was done to you is true, then I would say the same to you.”

But all the “I’m sorry’s” in the world won’t change anything for either of them.

“I’m also sorry for… inconveniencing you,” Barnes says. “Truce? I’ll go my way and you go yours and no one sends anyone after each other”

Seems fair enough. “Truce.”

Barnes turns to leave and Bruce suddenly blurts out, “Plums.”

“What?”

“For memory loss. It’s a home remedy. No idea if it actually works. But worth a try right?”

Barnes’ hand tightens its grip on the strap of the backpack slung over his shoulder. “Couldn’t hurt.”


	4. Stray

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another prompt fill for seekingsquake who asked for “maybe something with [Bruce] and dogs?”
> 
> Also NOPE BRUCES DOG FROM TIH IS TOTALLY FINE OK  
> #TeslaLives

After the Accident, Bruce had just automatically assumed that he wouldn’t be able to get along with animals anymore. To him it made sense: a lot of animals can see, smell, and hear things that human beings simply can’t. It therefore didn’t seem too far fetched then that they’d somehow be able to sense the dangerous creature lurking under his skin and act accordingly in line with their natures.

He should have known better than to make assumptions, especially considering his line of work.

—

There are a lot of stray dogs in Rio de Janeiro. It’s rare day that Bruce doesn’t spot at least one pawing through the trash or hanging around a stall in case someone drops something during his walk to the factory where he works.

One day the weather’s especially nice, a little cooler than usual, so Bruce spends his lunch break outside with a bowl of feijoada and an orange. He’s not really friends with any of the other workers (and he’s not really interested in befriending anyone, especially since for all he knows he might need to leave tomorrow).

As he eats, a stray mutt, one a little larger than most of the dogs that Bruce has seen around comes up to him, not at all timid. Then again, he can count all of its ribs so maybe it’s just desperate rather than bold. After a moment, feeling a little sorry for it, he picks a bit of sausage out of his lunch and holds it out to the dog who backs up at the movement and eyes the food almost suspiciously before darting forward and quickly snapping it up as if expecting it to be snatched away. In a blink the sausage is gone and the dog’s running off.

“Didn’t even stick around for dessert,” Bruce mutters to himself, looking down at the fruit that he hadn’t even started to peel.

In the end he finishes the feijoada and pockets the orange and doesn’t think about the dog again until after he gets back to his apartment at the end of the day and happens to turn around before going inside the building to see it there. Must have followed him.

“I’m not giving you more food,” Bruce says as firmly as he can. The dog stares at him. Bruce goes inside.

The next morning it’s still there if in a slightly different spot. Despite knowing he’ll probably regret it, Bruce gives him (he’d checked, but just out of curiosity) a little bit of the orange from yesterday.

The day after that Bruce gives Tesla (oh God he’d named him, what was he doing?) a boiled egg.

On the fourth day Bruce puts out a bowl of water and half of what he would have had for dinner.

He talks to the landlord and it turns out they don’t mind pets as long as they’re cleaned up after so Bruce holds the door open to see what happens and Tesla comes in and that’s that.

—

Ross finds him eventually. He always does and though Bruce doesn’t cry, he hates that he had to leave Tesla behind. He adds it to the growing list of things that keeps him angry, the list that keeps the inner rage just stoked enough to never quite die but also keeps it from flaring up at the wrong time.

—

“-what about you, you ever have a pet? You look like a dog person. I bet you’re a dog person.”

Looking up, Bruce blinks at Tony, not remembering how they got to talking about the subject. “Sort of. I, uh, kind of accidentally adopted a stray in Brazil once. But Ross caught up with me and well… I’m not sure what happened to it.”

“Knew it. I can totally see it. I always get these things right.”

“You said Barton was a bird person. He has a dog. Just because his codename has a type of bird in it doesn’t mean he’s a bird person,” Bruce points out.

Tony snorts. “Whatever. But you know Wilson is actually a bird person right?”

—

Thump Thump Thump

Rubble underneath him, not surprising. Complete lack of clothing minus pants also not surprising. Hot smelly breath and something wet and slimy moving over his face, very surprising.

Thump Thump Thump

Bruce opens his eyes have a large muzzle filling up his vision and when he tries to push it away it just keeps pushing back at him to lick his cheeks and nose and mouth and any part of his face it can get at.

There’s a small whine as Bruce pushes it away from him to sit up properly and let his vision refocus and when it does his eyes go wide.

“Tesla?”

The thumping sound starts again, and only now does Bruce realize it’s Tesla’s tail wagging so hard it’s audible whacking against the ground. He’s also whining loudly and only stops when Bruce starts scratching behind his ears, slowly at first, disbelieving, but then faster and firmer.

“I called in a few favors,” says a voice behind him and Bruce turns around to see Tony, his suit a little battered but other in good shape and with a grin on his face. “Turned out the woman living in the room under yours was keeping him for you.”

“Tony… I-I don’t, I don’t know if I have enough time or resources for a dog.”

His friend gives him a look. “Bruce, you have enough time when you’re not spending all of it in the labs and you live with me remember? Besides…” Tony walks over and gives Tesla a light scratch. “I saw your face when you first got a look at him. You love this dog and you were overjoyed to see him again so stop denying yourself things and let yourself have them for once. You deserve it.” There’s a genuine note to Tony’s voice that Bruce has very rarely heard from him.

“And besides, he was the one who got the Big Guy calm enough to change back into you again. So obviously there’s no physical danger to him since you love dogs even when you’re mean and green. So don’t look the damned horse in the mouth okay?”

Maybe Bruce should refute Tony’s logic but he can’t bring to do it. Pushing himself up, he leans on Tony as he calls the Quinjet.

Later that night, he feeds Tesla blueberries.


	5. Canja

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right here’s the thing I wrote for @coherentinsanity, whose prompt was: “Bruce attempts to mentor Vision in making Brazilian inspired dishes (or how to cook in general), but Bruce wasn’t the best cook to begin with, even after spending a few years making it on his own in Brazil.”

Bruce isn’t entirely certain how an android who can practically measure ingredients out precisely to the last atom and keep track of time well enough to never let something under or overcook can manage to screw up a dish as simple as canja. Yet as Bruce gingerly samples a spoonful of the attempt at the Brazilian soup there’s no denying that while it’s… satisfactory, it also doesn’t taste like the soup that had been his comfort food back when he lived in Rio. It’s just… okay.

He’s suddenly very hyperaware of Vision, who’s looking at him expectantly, and almost… nervously, his hands held up in a way that looks like he wants to fidget with something, which is a gesture that Bruce normally associates with himself so it’s a little unnerving to see it reflected in someone else. “Is it all right, Doctor Banner? I followed the recipe you gave me to the letter.”

“Please call me Bruce. And it’s uh…” Bruce scratches at his chin uncertainly. He needs to shave soon. “It’s all right… but you know you don’t always have to do exactly what the recipe says right? You’re allowed to experiment a bit. If the amounts aren’t exact it isn’t the end of the world.”

“Oh. I see.” There’s an awkward silence between. Bruce suddenly wonders if Vision asking him for help in learning how to cook wasn’t a sort of front for some sort of father-son bonding.

Was that what they were? Bruce had helped to create him certainly, but so had Helen and Tony. Then again, Helen isn’t always here since most of the time she works and lives in Seoul while Tony seems to have become more and more reclusive after the Ultron… incident had ended. But even if that does leave Bruce as the only frequently present parental figure, he’s pretty certain he is nowhere near the best one. So the why Vision would want to bond with Bruce is quite beyond him.

Sampling the soup again Bruce raises an eyebrow as he notices something. “Vision, what seasoning did you put in this?”

“Salt, ground black pepper, and parsley, only what the recipe called for,” Vision answers promptly. Bruce shakes his head.

“No, this definitely isn’t parsley. I’m pretty sure this is cilantro. Both taste and smell different. How did you mix them up?”

Vision looks genuinely surprised and abashed, which is an odd look indeed on him. “In my defense, I can’t taste or smell. Or at least, I don’t perceive the world in ways that I would consider equivalent to taste and smell. I don’t even ‘see’ in quite the same way that you do. I can register heat signatures and the dimensions of things and even the frequency of light wavelengths enough to determine the color of objects, but distinguishing between similar looking substances beyond color, general shape, and texture appears to be quite difficult for me.”

He then lifts a hand to his head as if to scratch at some nonexistent hair at the back of his head, but then puts his hand down again.

“Oh…” Bruce isn’t certain how to respond as he’s never considered what a state of existence as a largely non-organic life form must be like. “I guess a purchase of a label maker is in order then.”

At that Vision seems a bit disappointed and Bruce suddenly finds himself adding, “But uh, look, if it’s any comfort, when I first tried to make this, I got distracted by a project while I was waiting for the water to heat up and by the time I remembered the soup, nearly all the water had boiled away. So I’m proud that you did a decent job at something I failed at the first time.”

Vision’s expression clears but at the same time Bruce could almost swear that the edges of his mouth twitch up ever so slightly.

“I’m glad you think so,” Vision says. “But I do believe it’s because I learned from the best.”


	6. The Most Beautiful Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt from Ganet was ""The most beautiful thing you ever told me." Bruce/Tony ? :)"  
> (Post CW with mild references to NSFW activities but with no actual NSFW)

It’s not fair.

Bruce lays there with Tony nestled in the crook of his arm, the lingering afterglow still warming both of their bodies and he wishes… but that’s not how it works, is it?

He’s said it before. He doesn’t get what he wants. Staying here is not an option, unless Bruce wants to be caught and imprisoned (or worse) in the Raft for the rest of his life. Coming here in the first place was a terrible idea.

But at the same time Bruce doesn’t regret it. He has a ominous feeling that it will be a while before he sees Tony again and he needs this. There’s already so much pain and anger and other ugly things he carries with him wherever he goes.

Tony shifts a little bit, surprising Bruce, who’d thought he’d fallen asleep, though he can now see Tony scrutinizing him.

“Whatever you’re thinking about right now, it’s a real moodkiller.” Tony’s hand drifts to Bruce’s chest, carding his fingers through and twisting some of the hairs like he needs something to do with his hands. “Go to sleep.”

Bruce pretends not to hear the pleading note in Tony’s voice.

“I can’t. I need to go. I told you I’d have to leave in the morning.”

“It was the nightingale and not the lark that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear,” Tony murmurs lowly, his hot breath ghosting over Bruce’s shoulder before he presses a kiss there, his beard scratching a little at his skin.

“What?”

“Oh, come on, that’s freshman year high school English.”

“I’m a scientist, not a literary scholar.” It’s hard to sound annoyed with Tony licking and kissing at his neck. It takes an immense amount of willpower to turn his head away. “Tony… you know why I need to leave.”

There’s a short pause but before Bruce can continue-

“I know.” All the playfulness is gone from Tony’s voice and Bruce feels like he’s swallowed a weight, guilt anchoring him in place. Tony has already lost so many people in the past few years. And while Bruce knows that Tony will still have people who care about him here after he leaves, it doesn’t diminish the feeling that he’s betraying Tony by abandoning him when he needs Bruce the most after the Accords and Siberia.

Bruce turns his head back to look at Tony again, reaching up a hand to cup his cheek, tracing the edges of his face with his thumb as he tries to memorize his features under his fingers. “I’m sorry,” he says.

Tony’s hand covers his. It’s trembling slightly “Don’t be. It’s my fault, I made the world less safe for you. When I agreed to sign those papers, I didn’t think- I didn’t want to think about how suspicious it all was at the time. I was so shackled to the past that I wasn’t thinking about the future, which is the opposite of the whole futurist image I’m trying to uphold. I was even willing to work with fucking Ross just to alleviate my guilt. I should’ve pushed back before I signed. I should’ve-” Tony’s voice breaks as he shakes his head, his eyes shining a little bit and looker even larger than usual. “I just wish…”

But that’s not how it works, is it? they both think before laying there in silence for a long moment.

“Maybe I should stay. Let him find me,” Bruce says suddenly. Tony’s hand suddenly tightens its grip.

“If that’s a joke, it’s terrible.”

“I’m serious. I’m stuck in this…” He’s about to say “time loop” and nearly laughs bitterly, “…cycle of running and fighting and running again. And the one time I got out of it I fucked it up. I’m- I’m tired, Tony. I’m tired of being hunted like an animal and I’m tired of putting the people I love in danger from Hulk and I’m tired of hurting people.”

“Bruce-”

“No!” Bruce snaps, and Tony flinches slightly, immediately filling Bruce with guilt. “Look, I-I know what you’re going to say, but I can’t let you convince me. I want this… as much as you do, but I’m not worth either the risk of Ross arresting you for aiding a fugitive or the risk of me doing something to you that I’ll never be able to forgive myself for. I’m sorry.”

Tony takes a huge breath. “Okay great.” he says. “I mean, you’re wrong but it’s good to hear you’re getting that stuff off your gloriously hairy chest.”

Tony’s hand lets go of Bruce’s to cup Bruce’s cheeks with both hands, forcing their gazes to meet. “Now listen to me. Bruce Banner, you are worth the risk. I’m not great at pep talks but just trust me on this one, which I swear I’m not making for purely selfish reasons. You’re worth protecting and being cared about and I would happily walk right into one of those cells on the Raft if it would mean not letting someone trap you somewhere away from the world that I know you want to change for the better.”

Bruce’s eyes are prickling a little after the first “worth,” though he doesn’t actually cry despite having just heard the most beautiful thing Tony had ever told him. “You know the only reason it’s hard to argue with you is your big stupid brown puppy dog eyes, right?”

His deflection only makes Tony smile. “I’ll stop using it when it stops working.” The smile fades as he glances at the digital clock on the nightstand. “It’s almost seven.”

With a nod, Bruce starts to get up but Tony pulls him by the hands back down for a kiss that Bruce returns with as much fervor as possible and even then Tony doesn’t let go of his hands, pressing them lightly against the scars at the center of his chest. “Promise you’ll come back to me?”

“Yes,” Bruce whispers before leaning back in for one last kiss, this one more gentle.

Less than half an hour later, as Bruce watches the helicopters flying toward the direction that he’d come from through the window of his seat on the bus, he doesn’t feel as sad as he thought he would. 

But then again, he supposes, he’d made a promise.


	7. Yesterday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters including this one are all filled prompts from ScienceBrosWeek2016 on tumblr.
> 
> July 11th's prompt: Yesterday

Granted, Bruce had slept horribly and is a little out of it, but he’s still more startled than he should be when he opens the door of his apartment to see Tony sitting outside and leaning against the wall. All thoughts of breakfast and more importantly, coffee, flee his mind as he takes in Tony’s messed up hair which is sticking up on one side, and the darker than usual bags under his eyes.

“Bruce.” Tony says immediately, bolting up and nearly tripping over his feet in his haste to stand up.

“How long have you been there?” Is the first thing out of Bruce’s mouth. “Did… did you sleep outside my door?”

“Yes.” Tony pauses. “Or… no. Which one’s going to make you the least angry at me?”

“I’m always angry, Tony. You were there to get that particular memo.”

“Right. But. What I said yesterday clearly made you more angry than usual-“

“Oh trust me, if I was more angry than usual you’d know it,” Bruce says dryly.

“You know what I mean.” Tony’s voice has a note of irritation in it for a moment before it melts back into regret. “And yeah, I’m really good at that, at making people angry, but I don’t like knowing that I hurt you.”

He takes a deep breath, shifting his weight on his feet as he looks up for a moment, before looking back at Bruce. “I like Hulk, you know I do. And I do think that you need to accept him more. But never think that I like him more than I like you. I shouldn’t have implied that he belongs on the team more than you do just because I was upset.”

“Tony-” 

“Wait, let me finish. It took me forever to compose this apology and I even asked for help to make it a good one, so let me do this.” Tony shoves his hands in his pockets, something a little tight in his face. “See, I built myself several suits of armor, give or take a few hundred, to protect me and the people I care about and even the people I don’t. Underneath that armor, I’m just me, a very unenhanced puny human. And the suit isn’t actually completely invulnerable no matter what titles people give me. 

“But you? When you’re the Hulk you’re practically indestructible. I’ve rarely even seen him bleed. And when you mentioned the idea of a cure it was like my brain just stopped cause all I could picture was you defenseless and unprotected and vulnerable. It scared me. And I hate feeling scared. But it was still shitty of me to say that. So… I’m sorry.”

Bruce waits for a minute. “Are you done?”

“I think so.”  
“Okay then…” he nods a little to himself. “I’m almost ready to forgive you.”

“Almost?” Tony’s voice and expression is wary and rightfully so given the gleam in Bruce’s eyes and a smirk that implies something is coming.

“I’ll forgive you if you take back the other thing you said yesterday about you being the smartest one on the team.”

“What?!” Tony nearly squawks, but Bruce raises his eyebrows at him and he pouts.  


“All right… fine. I take it back. Bruce Banner, you are the smartest one there is.” 

“Good.” Bruce says and drags Tony into a heated kiss and feels quite smug as Tony began melting into it. When he pulls back, Tony’s face is hopeful.

“Do we have make up sex now? Please tell me there’s makeup sex involved here.”

Bruce chuckles. “I think I can arrange something after I’ve had my coffee.”


	8. Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Submission for the second day of ScienceBrosWeek2016
> 
> July 12th's prompt: Spark

It’s one thing to see him as Iron Man, flushed with pride and exhaustion after a hard won victory. It’s another thing to see him as Anthony Stark, heir to Stark Industries and billionaire philanthropist, his grin as perfectly tailored as his wool suits.

But it’s here in his workshop where he’s just Tony the mechanic that Bruce thinks he’s the most alive.

When Tony is working he’s practically humming with energy, his eyes bright as he fiddles and hammers and welds and refines.

Tony is a builder, a creator, an artist in his own right. As his own creations crowd around him to try to offer help he might well be Pygmalion. Though come to think of it, Daedalus might be a more apt comparison.

Tony himself would likely say he was more Victor Frankenstein.

Whatever he is, there’s still something about seeing Tony in motion with his hair wild and cheeks smudged with grease and dark eyes gleaming with inspiration that makes Bruce’s heart beat a little faster.

The form fitting black tank he likes to wear that bares those surprising toned arms of his while he tinkers doesn’t hurt either.

Pausing while flitting in between stations, Tony turns to ask Bruce a question and he barely catches it, too mesmerized by an intense gaze that ignites a spark deep in his core. He focuses all his energy on answering to prevent himself from physically reacting to what he’s feeling.

He must have said something witty or at least mildly funny because Tony bursts into laughter, his smile almost too large for his face.

The spark deep inside Bruce bursts into flame and then he knows he’s fucked.


	9. Fury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third prompt for ScienceBrosWeek2016  
> July 13th's Prompt: Fury

The anger that thrums under Hulk’s skin is as familiar as his own heartbeat, his rage as life sustaining as the jade colored blood in his veins. It doesn’t make the whole of him, but it is certainly enough.

Anger makes Hulk strong, but it also just feels good, an almost fiery sensation that gathers somewhere around his stomach before shooting up the back of his neck and flowing into the rest of him, filling him with energy.

Anger makes Hulk feel alive.

Even if they don’t say anything about it, Hulk can see the anger in the rest of his team too.

He sees it in Steve’s clenched jaw when he takes down several Hydra goons with his shield and Hulk knows from the cracks he hears and the amount of blood he can smell that they won’t get up again even as Cap calls for someone to come to take them into custody. 

He sees it in the graceful arc of Natasha’s body as she breaks several bones in a thug’s body with all the precision of a surgeon. 

He sees it very clearly in the lightning that Thor conjures, tearing bright white cracks in the sky as he strikes down a creature from his own world that now threatens the one he has chosen to protect.

He sees it in the straight line of Clint’s shoulders even when he isn’t stringing arrows, the deep lines that form between his brows when he knows he has to actually kill and the ones that don’t appear when they encounter Loki again.

Tony’s fury is the most beautiful of all and perhaps Hulk only thinks that because it looks the most like his own, but it’s unrestrained and explosive and raw and Hulk loves it as fiercely as he can love anything because love is passion and passion is what anger feeds on. Hulk loves and Hulk hates everything that threatens what he loves and he thrives. 

Banner fears Hulk’s anger because he doesn’t understand it and locks Hulk away in his mind to save Tony from what he doesn’t realize is Hulk’s love. Stupid Banner.

It only serves Banner right when he’s caught by men in unfamiliar suits that stick him with needles. But then the needles make his blood burn and Hulk howls and twists in his mind, but he’s unable to break out.

They’re saved by Tony who doesn’t even speak at first but shoots the men holding them captive and after freeing Banner, sets the laboratory on fire. The flames reflect off the red and gold paint and contrasted with the white glow from the eyeholes he looks like a monster himself and Hulk only falls more in love as Tony cradles Banner in his arms and flies them away.

After they land, Tony’s faceplate flips open, and his eyes are bright and smoldering even though they’re nowhere in sight of the fire.  
“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I will be,” Banner says.

“Your eyes are green.”

“What?”

“They’re green. Big Guy’s glad to see me I guess.” Tony grins though it’s a little sharp, a little desperate. “Not like I don’t get why. I’ve got a full knight in shining armor gig going on. Though really you’re more tower guarding dragon than damsel in distress-”

“Shut up.” Somehow both Banner and Hulk speak simultaneously and as one pull Tony’s face down into a kiss.

Later they’ll wonder just what the hell happened, but for now they seize the moment. Love isn’t as familiar to either Banner or Hulk as anger but somehow they’ll manage.


	10. Momentary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another submission for ScienceBrosWeek2016!  
> July 14th's Prompt: Momentary
> 
> Be aware, this chapter contains NSFW material!

Bruce Banner is not very open with his emotions.

Okay, that’s not quite true, it’s pretty blatantly obvious when he’s angry but when he’s NOT angry it’s pretty damn hard to get a read on him some of the time. When he’s not hiding behind that dry wit of his, he’s pretending that he barely feels anything at all.

Naturally Tony sees that as a bit of a challenge. Bruce Banner is an equation and Tony loves solving equations, especially when said equation has full lips, a nice hairy chest, and lovely salt and pepper curls begging to be pet and tugged at.

It just so happens that sex is one nearly guaranteed way to see Bruce let go of his adamantium control.

Tony laths over a tongue over a dark pink nipple and Bruce keens and bucks underneath him. By this point Tony’s lost track of how long he’s been at this, teasing Bruce and bringing him to the brink several times, only to refuse to let him finish, building up the tension deliciously. Bruce is already touched starved and like this he’s even more hyper sensitive, even so much as a brush of skin earning a twitch from his cock.

“Please…” Bruce’s lips barely move and when he opens his eyes they’re not green, but somehow darker than their usual color and simmering with lust and frustration and what also looks like impatience.

And yeah, Tony knows he’s being a bit of an asshole, but the way that Bruce squirms and parts those full lips in a gasp when he finally wraps his hand around him and starts rubbing his thumb on the underside of his cock just beneath his head is just too good.

Even if Tony does regret it (but not really) when Bruce has enough and flips them over and fastens his mouth to Tony’s throat, sucking and licking and kissing and even biting a little bit while he ruts against Tony’s thigh, Tony’s certainly not going to complain. The sight of the momentary lack of control, the nearly animalistic growls coming from Bruce that aren’t the least bit Hulk but are also not the repressed scientist is getting him closer to his own climax. 

The warmth of Bruce’s hand closing over Tony’s dick and starting to move doesn’t hurt either.

Tony is in awe and he can’t help but stare as he slides his arms around Bruce’s waist, holding him close and looking up at him as Bruce releases his neck. He raises his face toward the ceiling, every muscle tense and glistening with sweat and it almost looks a bit like the expression on his face at the very beginning of a transformation but this is something quite a bit different. 

Bruce cries out suddenly and shudders and Tony feels cum spurt onto his leg and stomach and for a moment Tony thinks he’s come too, but his cock is still hard even though Bruce’s hand has stopped stroking him.

Even so, Tony doesn’t say anything just yet, not wanting to say something that will take away the currently blissful look on Bruce’s face that he knows will disappear all too soon.  
Besides Bruce quickly catches on anyway once he snaps out of it and it only takes a minute or so of pumping Tony’s cock before he joins Bruce in feeling a pleasure that’s not unlike flying or maybe turning into a being of unlimited strength.

Bruce falls asleep soon after and while the sex is great, Tony appreciates moments like these just as much, the peaceful expression on Bruce’s face, the way he curls into Tony’s body, and the gentle wash of pale blue from the arc reactor over Bruce’s features.

Baring his heart so close to another human being is scary, but, Tony thinks as he listens to Bruce’s soft snores, it’s worth it.


	11. Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Submission for ScienceBrosWeek2016  
> July 15th's Prompt: Blue

Tony hates the color blue. Plain and simple. He knows it’s ridiculous considering how common it is but his opinion still stands. It’s not quite as bad as his aversion to being handed things as he’ll wear the occasional cerulean tie, but it’s still another eccentric trait he has, if one he’s hidden a bit better. 

Blue makes Tony think of water, which makes him think of his head being forced into a giant tub of it by a terrorist who wants him to build a weapon, of being trapped in his own armor as the ocean tries to swallow him.

Blue makes Tony think of the sky, which makes him think of space and staring his own death in the face in a dark infinite emptiness which isn’t actually empty but teeming full of dangers that he’s not ready to protect his planet from.

Blue makes Tony think of the arc reactor, which makes him think of the fact that there’s only one small fragile object standing between the rest of the world and his heart.

Thankfully nothing about Bruce Banner besides perhaps his attitude (ha) is blue. Bruce as a palette is earthy browns and pale yellows and mellow purples and light greys and of course verdant but it certainly doesn’t contain anything bluer than viridian.

So when Bruce comes into the lab one morning wearing a periwinkle button up that Tony knows he certainly didn’t buy Bruce, he does everything he can to cajole him out of it.

“What does it matter to you?” Bruce asks later after he gives in while they’re lying flat on their backs. “I liked the color of that shirt.”

“I know,” Tony says. “But honestly I think purple on you better. And green, but you already knew that.”

“All right, yeah,” Bruce chuckles. “I did.”


	12. Illuminate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Submission for ScienceBrosWeek2016  
> July 16th's Prompt: Illuminate

Oddly enough, the hardest part about having to turn into the Hulk isn’t the actual transformation, but the aftermath.

Most of it’s the emotional weight, the horror and guilt that comes with having to accept new information about how many buildings have been demolished and how many casualties there are. Like the Hulk himself is a war that has escaped from inside Bruce because he can’t keep his own fucking problems inside his head where he’s the only one who gets hurt.

The physical toil that the transformation takes on Bruce is also rough on him. Every inch of his body aches like he’s been physically stretched beyond limits that any human should be able to survive and then quickly compressed into a container two sizes too small to contain him. Which is pretty accurate. He also is dehydrated and starving and fighting off a migraine that makes his entire skull throb and is not at all aided by the sun shining right in his eyes.

Something blocks the sun from directly above Bruce, removing at least the last of the items on the long list of things that currently makes Bruce want to climb into a hole and stay there forever. 

“Hey, Big Guy.” There’s a light thud next to Bruce and he finally looks up to see Tony backlit by the sun.

If Bruce responds, he doesn’t remember it later as he drifts off some point after Tony gathers him up in his arms, presumably to bear him off to the Quinjet.

When Bruce wakes up there’s a different bright light shining in his eyes. He’s also lying on something soft and after he gives his eyes a few minutes to adjust he sees that he’s lying on a bed with Tony, whose face is inches away from his own. Tony’s fast asleep, one of his hands resting on Bruce’s hip as if to keep him close, or more likely to use him as a body pillow to aid in keeping some weight and stress off of the reactor and off his heart. 

The light, which of course Bruce realizes now is from Tony’s reactor, even if slightly muted by his shirt, is just bright enough to illuminate the dark circles under Tony’s eyes. When was the last time Tony had slept? Had he dozed off while waiting for Bruce to wake up?

Judging from the fact that Tony’s still dressed, Bruce is inclined to think that Tony was keeping watch. He certainly didn’t have to and the fact that he did kindles something warm in Bruce’s chest that’s only fed more by the hand on his waist and the way the light from the arc reactor plays on Tony’s long eyelashes before they play on his opened eyes, which regard Bruce with hesitance. 

“Is this weird? Am I making this too weird by being here?”

“No,” Bruce says and finds himself moving in to brush his lips over Tony’s. “Not weird at all.”


	13. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final submission for ScienceBrosWeek2016  
> July 17th's Prompt: Arrival

This isn’t exactly the scenario that Tony had imagined being able to reunite with Bruce under, but he’ll take it. Late and under the threat of possible planetary extinction is better than never and all that.

So here he is, waiting on the landing pad of the Helicarrier (and boy is this causing a surge of déjà vu), hands tucked in his pockets and a strong wind tugging at his suit jacket as a quinjet lands two hundred feet in front of him. 

As the ramp descends, Tony doesn’t take his eyes away for a single second. It’s a little strange to be the one waiting instead of the one making the grand entrance, but hey, Tony doesn’t mind swapping roles every once in a while (and yes, any innuendo to be found there is completely intentional).

In reality, Bruce’s arrival isn’t dramatic or accompanied by swelling music, it’s just him, peeking his head out before coming down the ramp, the wind blowing his slightly too long curls off of his forehead. He scans the landing pad until his eyes meet Tony’s and cliché as it sounds, it feels like the world stops with both of them as they take a moment to drink in the sight of each other.

Bruce is thinner than Tony remembers, his clothes as threadbare as they’d been during their first meeting. Tony’s clothing is in much better shape of course, but really they both look like they’ve emotionally been through the ringer, which they have. The bags under Bruce’s eyes match Tony’s perfectly.

Strangely, Tony feels a rush of hurt and anger as he holds Bruce’s gaze longer. Hurt that Bruce had left him in the first place, left him just like everyone but Rhodey. And anger because he knows it was partially his own fault that Bruce had done it.

Time suddenly speeds back up again and so does Bruce, his slow walk down the ramp turning into a light jog and then a full run. All around them agents are acting with surprise and fear and some are reaching for their weapons, but Tony holds up a hand, yelling something at them that he won’t remember later. He finds himself running toward the quinjet, toward Bruce, able to see at a closer distance that Bruce is definitely not angry but... Before he can register anything else, their bodies collide and Bruce’s arms wrap tightly around him as his head presses into Tony shoulder. 

Something constricts painfully around Tony’s heart as he looks down at the man in his arms, any residual bitterness melting away as Bruce presses himself against him, his hands gripping tightly at Tony’s jacket.

“They say the world’s ending.” Bruce’s voice is as husky and beautiful as Tony remembers it.

“They said that last time. But really, if you’ve seen one end of the world scenario, you’ve seen them all.”

Bruce’s laugh is weak as he pulls back from the hug, but that might be from how weary he looks.

It’s an understatement that they have a lot to talk about, some things pleasant, some not so much. But for once, Tony’s not really interested in talking right now. 

Closing the distance between them again, Tony tilts up Bruce’s chin, and not caring about what anyone who can see them is thinking, leans in to kiss him. Bruce returns it, leaning back into him and as they part, there’s a glimmer in Bruce’s eye that hadn’t been there before and Tony finds himself smiling for the first time since this latest mess began.

“Welcome back, Bruce.”


	14. Hunger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Secret Santa gift for ashnapalm for the Science Bros Secret Santa 2016 event hosted by sciencebrosweek! The request was “Vampire AU of any genre in any setting (and as far as squicks are concerned) I’m good with anything - hit me.”
> 
> Because this involves vampires there is mention of and a little bit of blood in this fic so be warned. There’s no outright smut in this fic, but there are heavy innuendos. So at the very least it’s PG-13 I guess

“Those are not- you’re shitting me. You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“Really, Banner? After all the crap that we’ve seen, the one thing that makes you draw a line is the idea that I have a pair of fangs?”

“No,” Bruce says flatly, “The thing that makes me draw a line is the idea that you need to feed on blood in order to survive.”

“Same difference.” Tony waves his hand. “And you don’t get to talk when you occasionally turn into the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant.”

“No, not the same.” Bruce frowns as he pushes up his glasses to rub the space between his eyes. “I have a scientific explanation for the Other Guy. You don’t have one for why you don’t have a reflection.”

Scrunching up his face with a sigh, Tony points a finger at Bruce. “Okay, one, that’s a stereotype, and two, it’s not technically true. I only can’t be reflected by silver. Everything else is fair game and the mirrors here are made of stainless steel.”

“But you go out into the sun!”

“Sunglasses and sunscreen are marvelous inventions of the modern world.”

“Tony,” Bruce says, massaging a temple. “I’ve seen you eat. You love food. I would have noticed if you were getting your sustenance from people’s necks instead of cheeseburgers.”

“Because I like the taste,” Tony explains with the patience of a saint (which both of them knows is bullshit). “Trust me, having to drink the same thing constantly to be able to obtain the nutrients I need gets old very quickly. Not to mention that blood is disgusting. You’d want to have a cheeseburger every once in a while too.”

“So how do you get-” Bruce shakes his head. “Never mind, don’t tell me, I really don’t want to know. You still realize how nuts this sounds right? Is there anything else I need to know about any of our team members? Are you going to tell me now that Barton’s a centaur?”

“I can’t confirm that, but I can confirm that Rhodey is a merman. Gorgeous voice and everything.”

“Oh my god I think you’re being serious.” Bruce says and stares at him for a moment before turning away, running a hand through his hair. When he looks back his mouth is set in a firm line, though he’s wringing his hands. “All right… I have a confession to make too, then, while we’re at this. I’m… I’m a werewolf.”

He’s only able to hold his serious expression long enough to watch Tony’s eyes widen before he starts cracking up. “Gotcha,” he makes out through his chortles.

“You!- You, Bruce Banner are a complete and utter troll,” Tony says as he leans back against the table even as Bruce straightens up and calms down.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Bruce grins. “But I am still going to want some more proof.”

“All right fine, how’s this?” Tony opens his mouth and sure enough as Bruce watches, his canines lengthen and sharpen. “Pretty cool, right?”

Unexpectedly, as Bruce stares at the exposed fangs, he doesn’t feel fear or even surprise. Instead, he’s fascinated and a tiny part of him seems to perk up with curiosity, with a less tiny part also seeming to want to to voice its opinion. “Very cool, but, uh, I think I’m going to need just a little more proof.”

It’s only then that Tony seems to catch on and his lips curl upward as he moves toward Bruce, his movements suddenly graceful and almost predatory like a large cat. He practically slides into Bruce’s space, his body fitting against him like it was made to be held against Bruce’s.

Lowering his head, Tony nuzzles at Bruce’s neck. “Just much in depth proof are we talking here?” he purrs before Bruce feels Tony’s tongue swipe over the flesh of his throat. “Because I know I said blood tastes disgusting, but fuck, Bruce you smell amazing. Is that a gamma monster thing?”

“I wouldn’t know, I ah, have so far been trying to avoid people ingesting my blood. It doesn’t seem too good for humans.” Bruce is doing everything in his power to keep from squirming against Tony. He feels hot breath fan over his neck as Tony chuckles.

“I only have problems with certain types of radiation. Not gamma as it so happens.” Tony inhales deeply and presses his surprisingly cool lips to Bruce’s almost too-hot skin, the hair of his beard a little bit itchy against the tender skin. “Your pulse is getting faster, I can hear and feel it. You’re not even gonna need a heart monitor with me around.”

Not able to stand it anymore, Bruce drags Tony’s head up to pull him into a kiss, all roughness and friction and everything Bruce didn’t even realize he wanted from a kiss until he realized that neither him nor Tony would break from this. He claws at Tony’s back to pull him closer and wonders for a moment if from an outsider view, he looks more like the vampire with the hunger he’s ravishing Tony’s mouth with.

Something scrapes against Bruce’s lower lip and he feels a small flare of pain as both of them stop, realizing that one of Tony’s fangs has scratched Bruce’s mouth. Tony pulls back and eyes the drop of blood that’s welling up, but his pupils are dilated as he stares it.

“Do it,” Bruce finds himself saying and Tony’s lips crash against his again before starting to suck and Bruce had never understood the appeal of vampire fiction before, but he does now because he feels strangely heady and light and calm and so good.

“Sorry,” Tony makes out when he pulls back, licking his own lips. “That’s my venom. Evolutionary thing- supposed to make it easier for the prey, almost like a symbiotic relationship. I get my nutrients and the victim gets a sort of high out of it. You can still back out if you want though.”

“Yeah-” Bruce mumbles as he reluctantly draws back. “Even if the radiation’s safe, I still don’t like the idea of you drinking my mutated blood.”

“Fair enough.”

“That doesn’t mean I won’t ask you to suck from somewhere else.” Tony’s eyes brighten at that.

“I knew I liked you for a reason.”

“But one more question.” Tony raises an eyebrow. “Do I still have to invite you in? You know, if we want to…”

Tony bursts into laughter, pulling Bruce close and kissing him again. “Not in that case, but it would be preferred.”

Bruce has always viewed himself as a monster, but at least now he won’t be alone.


	15. Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 1 of the Science Bros Week 2016. Prompt #1: Light

Stating that Tony Stark loved the outdoors would be a complete and utter lie.

Not that he didn’t mind the occasional outing but it was one thing to be outdoors in the city and another to be stumbling around in the woods with no tech but what he carried on his person. Not to mention all the bugs and the bitter smell of the spray that he could almost taste that kept them off his feet but not away from his eyes or mouth. Ick.

Yeah, if Bruce had brought him out here looking for outdoor sex, then he was going to have to learn to live with disappointment.

“Hang on.” Bruce was a few feet ahead of him, looking more at home here than he ever had under artificial illumination, leading him on a path worn in flat by thousands of anonymous footprints before themselves. “It’s just up ahead.”

“I’d hope so, I think I’ve- swallowed enough bugs- to fill- my protein needs for the day,” Tony muttered, a little too out of breath to muster up a proper quip, but Bruce must have heard because he heard a chuckle from in front of him as they came into a clearing.

“See? Not so painful.” In a single fluid motion, Bruce shrugged off his backpack and removed a blanket out to lay it on the grass. As he settled down, he pulled out a water bottle and took a long drought, prompting Tony to do the same, only realizing at that moment how dry his throat was at the sight of Bruce submerged in the warm golden light of the setting sun, shining a little bit with sweat.

Disappointingly, the sunset itself wasn’t particularly spectacular, which would’ve been a nice romantic detail to offset the other unpleasant aspects of this trip, but damn if Bruce didn’t at least look good.

“I didn’t bring you here for that view,” As he spoke, Bruce was taking out sandwiches and fruit. “If you want a good sunset you have to go somewhere with less atmosphere for the light to pass through.”

“Nerd.” Tony poked Bruce, who poked him back.

“Ass.”

They ate their dinner over more banter and by that time it was starting to get quite dark.

“Look at the trees.” Bruce said quietly, but with eyes wide and eager, crinkling around the edges and deepening his crows feet.

“The trees?” Bruce merely pointed and when Tony followed his gaze to the edges of the clearing he saw a tiny yellow flicker of light that winked out as quickly as it had appeared before another light appeared in response and faded. The longer Tony watched, the more he saw as they started to come out in full force, miniscule orange and yellow and green pinpoints of lights that made the trees seem to shimmer.

“Fireflies?”

“Nature’s own fireworks. But infinitely quieter.” Bruce said with a rare grin as he reached out for one of the lights drifting close to him though it swerved away from the motion. “I used to try to catch them with my cousin when we were kids. One of the few normal things I remember from back then.”

“I didn’t,” Tony admitted. “I wasn’t much of an outdoor kid. Or maybe I was. I never really left the city. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen them before tonight.”

“Guess you’ve got several years of firefly hunting to catch up on.” A glass jar was placed next to Tony’s hip and by the time Tony reached for it Bruce was already getting up.

“I used to be good at this but I’m not sure I’m- oh hey.”

Looking up Tony saw Bruce examining at a glowing green speck clinging to the sleeve of his shirt even as another one flashed from somewhere in his hair and another one landed on the front of his shirt.

“Maybe I haven’t lost my touch after all.” Bruce’s smile was as wide as Tony had ever seen it and he was glowing, and all right, maybe this whole thing had been worth it for that.

Tony Stark was firmly an indoor person, but he could also be flexible when it came to Bruce Banner.


	16. Pending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #2 for Science Bros Week: Pending

“The results are still pending,” was the first thing Bruce said when Tony appeared at the door of his lab.

“It’s not the results I’m concerned about.”

“I figured. You do like taking his side, don’t you?”

Tony groaned. “This is not about sides, Banner. He is you whether you like or not. And even if you do figure out how to stop your body from changing, that won’t stop him from existing.”

“I’m aware,” Bruce said, voice still low and bitter. “I was diagnosed long before the gamma radiation. But at least this way I would be the only one he could hurt.”

Silence.

Dropping his head, Tony sighed, rubbing at his cheek. “It’s never that simple, Bruce. You know that. There are always going to be people who get hurt in this line of work.”

Bruce let out a breath of his own, head tipping forward until it hit Tony’s shoulder. “I never wanted to hurt anyone,” he whispered before he felt the warmth of a hand on his hand, rubbing in soothing circles.

“I know, Big Guy. I know.”


	17. Rush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 3 of Science Bros Week 2017: Rush

“Before you ask, none of them have your name on them,” Bruce says as he takes his shirt off and Tony lets out a mock scoff.

“Which is a total waste of perfectly good space. That’s what happens when you leave me for months at a time so I can’t advise you on these things during your days off from Doctors Without Borders,” Stepping back, Tony looks him over and then moves back in, expression bright and curious and maybe the tiniest bit greedy. “Wow. I would not have guessed you were the type of person to get these. Not that you don’t look good with them but I would have expected something more, you know, temporary.”

Bruce closes his eyes as Tony’s cool fingers sweep over his skin, tracing lines of ink. “I’d been thinking about doing it for a long time. Even if I do regret it, there’s a change they might not survive my next transformation.”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Tony shrugs. “But I’m not sure why you’d put yourself through a painful process for something you weren’t certain was going to last. I mean I know I’ve had enough of body modifications for a lifetime.” He raps his fingers lightly against the arc reactor to accent his statement.

It’s a fair question to ask when one of Bruce’s known triggers is pain, but Tony’s tone isn’t really inquisitive, perhaps because he really trusts Bruce that much to believe that he wouldn’t be set off by needles.

“It’s… focusing,” Bruce confesses. “There’s this- this rush I get from giving up control voluntarily like that, putting myself in the hands of someone else for a while. I’m fine when I can anticipate the pain. It’s like letting go for a while.”

There’s more to it, but Bruce isn’t sure how to put it into the words, how he imagines that he can feel beauty being injected into his skin and blooming in his flesh, concealing all the guilt and anger and grief and ugliness that his body manufactures. Instead he adds, “They also camouflage a lot of the scars.”

Tony doesn’t immediately respond, but his fingers move to Bruce’s shoulder where he remembers discovering raised pale lines, only to find them now disguised as cactus spines cradling a yellow blossom. More succulents of species that Tony can’t name span the canvas of Bruce’s back, a garden of inks in slightly muted shades of purple and yellow and red and green.

“They suit you,” Tony says quietly before pressing a kiss to the nape of Bruce’s neck and working his way around the outlines of the tattoos as he slides his arms around Bruce’s waist from behind. “A love of hot climates and the ability to thrive in the harshest environments. Sound familiar?”

Tipping his head back, Bruce only hums lowly.

“A little bit.”


	18. Pierce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Science Bros Week Day 4: Pierce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((Consider this a sequel to Rush))

At this point Tony was beginning to suspect that either Bruce’s cosmic road trip with Thor had been really good for him on an emotional and mental level that gave himself a stronger self of self or else that Bruce was trolling him and trying to see how far he could go before Tony said anything.

The tattoos were one thing. But right now, watching Bruce wait patiently for the person currently marking his left earlobe to pierce it, Tony couldn’t help but quietly wonder if there were motivations beyond personal aesthetic or self-expression going on.

“So I gotta ask,” he finally said later after it was over, flicking the tiny dangling jewel and earning an irritated, if fond look from Bruce, “Not that I don’t immensely approve cause you surprisingly pull this off really well, but is this a mid life crisis sort of thing or…”

“It’s my body,” Bruce says simply.

“Well, yes obviously. I didn’t mean to come across as policing you-heck, I would be the last guy to try to do that-”

“Tony,” Bruce cuts him off. “It’s literally what I said. You know what it’s like for someone to meddle with your body without permission.”

Granted, it was a life saving operation, but Tony nods along nonetheless, remembering the helplessness, the vulnerability of his life lying in other person’s hands.

“That’s why I ran instead of letting Ross lock me up,” Bruce continues. “What he wanted to do was use my body to hurt other people. And if I wouldn’t do that for him, then he was willing to use any means to get the Other Guy out of my body. And it’s not even just about that.”

“The Big Guy himself,” Tony breathes and Bruce inhales sharply.

“Yeah. A lot of the time it’s difficult to feel tethered to my own body. Sometimes I’m not even sure it’s _mine_. And this sounds kind of silly, but doing this… it’s not about giving myself a visible reminder that I’m in the right body so much as… taking it back. Telling the world, Ross, Hulk, that it’s mine.”

Clearly Bruce thinks it’s ridiculous, talking about his own body like a toy in a kindergarten classroom, but Tony can follow that thought now and see it through.

“It makes you feel like you. I can think of worse reasons for a piercing. But I wasn’t lying, you really do rock it. Must be your silver fox vibes.” Tony teasingly flicks the earring again and Bruce smiles.

“Just don’t get a matching one to steal my thunder.”

“Please. That’s Thor’s job.”

“That was bad even for you,” Bruce chides.

“Does it count if I get one with Hulk?”

Bruce shoves him off the bed.


	19. Triumph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day #5 of Science Bros Week: Triumph

As Tony looked down at the colorful array of chips he’d lined up on the table ending with bronze, he felt Bruce put an arm around him and squeeze his shoulder.

“Congratulations. I know it was hard for you to get here.”

Tony scoffed. “The only hard part is having to listen to all that ‘give yourself up to a higher power’ crap.”

Bruce snorted a little. “Can’t argue with the results.”

Much as Tony hated it on his bad days to not have his singular coping mechanism available, Bruce was right.

“It’s a triumph,” he agreed. “Thanks to you."


	20. Eclipse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day #6 of Science Bros Week: Eclipse  
> (this is probably my favorite of everything I've written this week)

Of all the ways Tony had feared loosing Bruce, this wasn’t one that he had expected as he stared out at a completely uncontrolled Hulk letting loose on his equally wild surroundings.

How it had happened no one was certain. Bruce had disappeared for nearly two years but only Hulk had returned, being spotted in the Savage Land and apparently not once lapsing into his human form.

But that couldn’t mean Bruce was gone. Tony refused to believe that.

As he flew closer to the raging green behemoth, he couldn’t help feeling a strong sense of déjà vu even though this time he hadn’t gone so far as to deploy Veronica. The Savage Land was pretty far from human civilization and at worst a fight would only put a few dinosaurs in danger (Because dinosaurs in a tropical zone in the middle of Antarctica? Why not?) and Tony preferred not having to knock out his boyfriend again to get him back.

“Hulk?” he said uncertainly and couldn’t help starting back as Hulk whipped his head around faster than seemed possible and began charge toward him. “Hulk, no! It’s me, it’s Tony! You remember me, right Big Guy?”

Hulk slowed, but his expression didn’t soften, no spark of recognition lit up in his eyes.

“Oh come on, Bruce! I know you’re somewhere in there!”

At the mention of Bruce’s name, Hulk roared and swiped at Tony who only barely dodged it. “Damn it, what happened to you? What make you lock yourself in there so tightly? It’s been long enough!”

Hulk didn’t respond, continuing to try to snatch Tony from the air. He was non-verbal, really not a good sign and Tony was really starting to worry. So much for trying to do things peacefully. Maybe if he tired him out…

Tony aimed a repulsor at the base of a tree as he reconsidered the idea of using the Hulkbuster, but he didn’t anticipate the explosion setting off the Hulk even more and before he could begin the command he had been swatted to the ground and pinned under a giant green hand.

The direness of the situation began to sink in as Tony looked up into enraged green eyes that seemed to have no trace of humanity, no trace of _Bruce_ within them.

Nonononono this was not how he was supposed to die, especially not at the hands of the man he loved who he knew would blame himself for the rest of his days.

“Bruce,” he gasped, chest feeling tight and his already unhealthy heart feeling like it was breaking as he retracted his helmet. “Come back to me. Bruce, please…”

Perhaps it was his imminent demise, but images began to flash through Tony’s mind.

_Bruce, all wry smiles and sharp clever words falling from full lips. Bruce, ducking his head and wringing his hands in between spurts of confidence that suggested hints of the proud man he’d once been before the gamma radiation. Bruce, shining bright with Science and knowledge and eagerness to discover more, to experiment and solve. Bruce, his soft brown eyes full of compassion and kindness but also regret and bottled anger and so much unfathomable sadness that made Tony’s chest ache to look into them for too long. Bruce, stretched out bare along a bed, his body a patchwork of scars holding him together, tasting like tea and spices, smelling like fresh earth and musk and rubbing alcohol. Touching Tony with large blunt fingers ever so gently and carefully as if afraid of shattering him. Always afraid to ask for the things he wanted, curling in on himself in a way that made Tony just want to say-_

“You deserve to be loved, Bruce.” The words pronounced as heavily as a spell or perhaps the breaking of one.

Closing his eyes, Tony waited for the blow but it never came.

He flinched when something hit his cheek but he realized quickly it was just a drop of water. Opening his eyes Tony saw the Hulk looking down at him but his cheeks were wet and his eyes, which by all rights should have been as green as the rest of his form, were eclipsed by brown.

The hand on Tony’s chest grew lighter as it shrank with the rest of Hulk, green draining away, and face smoothing out, until a very naked and limp Bruce lay sprawled out on the ground next to Tony, though he quickly shifted up and lifted a pale trembling hand to look down at it.

Once he’d apparently ascertained that he was in his human body, Bruce cupped Tony’s cheek as his face scrunched up, more tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.

“Tony I-”

“Shhh,” Tony shifted up and pulled Bruce into his arms and they shared a long kiss as they clung to each other, hungry and desperate and grateful. “Please don’t try to apologize.”

Bruce shook his head. “That’s not it, I just wanted to say… thank you. For making me feel human again.”

“No problem, Big Guy. Now where do you want to go after I get you clothes?”

“New York. I just want to go home…”

Home. Tony’s smile almost couldn’t fit onto his face.

“Home it is.”


	21. Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last day of Science Bros Week 2017! Prompt was "Yours"!

Therapy and meds help Tony sleep far better than he had three years ago, but even so there are still some nights where sleep evades him or else nightmare keep him too on the edge to fall into unconsciousness.

Often Bruce has similar difficulties and on nights that they can’t sleep they’ll find something else to do to pass the time whether it’s a board game or a movie or just tossing ideas around. Tonight however, Bruce seems to have been blessed with dreamless sleep, his expression free of stress in a way that Tony rarely sees on him in his waking hours.

Without the light of an arc reactor in his chest to focus on, Tony instead decides to lie on his side facing his lover and watch him.

Bruce’s hair seems especially tousled in sleep, wild dark curls threaded with silver that have grown just a little bit too long, but Tony likes it best that way, especially paired with the stubble he’d been letting grow out the past week or two. The crow’s lines around his closed eyes just barely distracted from the dark circles underneath that have gradually lightened a little over time. His full lips are only slightly parted, his breathing deep and even. Bruce’s entire body is curled up in on itself, one arm propping up his head from under a pillow.

 _Everything I have could be yours, if only you would take it_ , Tony thinks, closing his eyes, and it’s not so much about Bruce’s reluctance to indulge despite Tony explicitly offering him anything money can buy, but about the fact that maybe besides money and lab equipment and opportunities to Science, there’s not a whole lot else he can give Bruce.

When Tony opens his eyes, earthy brown ones gaze back at him from under heavy lids.

“You all right?” Bruce mumbles, voice husky with sleep.

“I’m good, just not tired tonight,” Tony assures his boyfriend as he reaches out to cup Bruce’s face (and maybe feel that stubble a little bit), and Bruce visibly leans into it before pulling Tony in for a lazy kiss.

“Sorry to hear that, should I-?”

“No, go back to sleep,” Tony says and Bruce is already doing just that and Tony smiles a little bit to himself.

Material presents aside, perhaps Bruce just maybe thinks Tony’s love is enough.


End file.
